1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems, methods, and computer program products for bank transaction processing, and more particularly to performing validation and clearance of bank transactions associated with a batch of transactions on an individual transaction basis, as opposed to a batch processing basis.
2. Description of the Related Art
The advent of electronic bank transaction processing has significantly decreased the time and cost required for clearance and posting of bank transactions. Systems have been developed that are capable of capturing image data from financial documents. The image data are then processed to determine financial terms listed in the documents. This processed data can then be used to balance, clear, and post transactions.
For example, in the past, a simple transaction such as a deposit made by an account holder could be time consuming and costly to process. If an account holder submitted several third party checks they had received along with a deposit slip, a bank employee would need to enter information regarding each third party check electronically, such as the amount, payor, and payee. The check would then need to be input into a system for reading check ID, account and routing data associated with the check, etc. The bank employee would verify that the totals for the check received as part of the deposit reconcile with the amount entered on the deposit slip by the account holder. Only after the debits and credits for a transaction were reconciled could the transaction be made available for clearance and posting.
Using current technology, however, image data needed for balancing, clearing, and posting transactions may be scanned from each check in a transaction. The image data are then processed to “recognize” and validate the captured image data as financial information, check ID information, and routing information. This information is then used to balance, clear and post the transaction.
While strides have been made in bank transaction processing, further improvements are still needed. Specifically, many financial institutions employ batch transaction processing, which can delay clearance and posting of individual transactions, as well as increase cost and needlessly delay clearance of important transactions.
In particular, some banking systems store various transactions for processing into a common batch. The transactions are processed as a batch, and only after all transactions in the batch have been balanced is the batch made available for clearance and posting. For example, as illustrated in FIG. 1, in a conventional transaction processing system 10, a batch 12 comprising two (2) transactions 14a-14b are initially processed to “recognize” and validate information on the financial documents in the transactions and then determine if the debits and credits of each transaction 14 in the batch are balanced. (See blocks 16-18). As illustrated at block 20, one of the transactions 14a is balanced; however, transaction 14b is not. In this instance, both transactions 14a-14b are delayed due to the batch nature of the process while the unbalanced transaction is investigated and balanced. As such, an unnecessary delay is experienced regarding the balanced transaction 14a as illustrated in the figure by the time line T. This problem is exacerbated where the balanced transaction 14a that is being delayed is a high value transaction for which the financial institution could benefit from earlier clearance and posting or where earlier availability of the transaction for clearance would allow the financial institution to use a lower cost processing system or where the transaction is critical to the account holder and requires expedited processing.